Women in tech unite

Asia Pacific's largest online conference tackles gender inequality.

Women will tackle the gender pay gap, workplace communication, and personal branding at the world’s largest online conference for women in tech across Asia Pacific region.

In November, the first '10,000 Women in Tech APAC Virtual Conference' is being hosted by diversity and inclusion training company, emberin.

Featuring 50 international speakers, including former Sex Discrimination Commissioner and leader of the Australian Defence Force’s first Independent Review into the Treatment of Women Elizabeth Broderick and Digital Passion Peers Founder and CEO Kanika Agarwal, it will also host senior leaders from eBay, Microsoft, Google, MYOB, Facebook, Dell and Origin.

The event aims to ‘inspire women to succeed in the tough, male-dominated industry’ and allow them to connect by sharing stories, practical strategies and tools to give them the skills to succeed professionally.

Topics covered in the conference include personal branding, workplace communication, male and female style difference, overcoming habit and procrastination and engaging men in gender diversity and inclusive leadership, with a focus on addressing the gender pay gap.

Currently, the gender pay gap in Australia is 15.3%, having fluctuated between 15-19% over the last two decades.

Emberin Chief Disruption Officer Maureen Frank said the conference will talk about gender inequality from two aspects.

“We want to be able to help women to have a new convo about it, but we also want to engage men,” she said.

Frank said the conference hoped to inspire change among women in tech, given especially that the number of women in leadership roles in Australia fell in 2017.

“To make change, we need to get to a critical mass of women, and with a goal of 10,000, that’s what this conference aims to do.

“Women in tech particularly need support across the Asia Pacific to change this male-dominated industry,” she said.

The event will utilise Vconference, a state-of-the-art virtual conference software with chat functionalities and an exhibition board.

The event will be held from 13-17 November. Participants can access videos of the speeches for 24 hours, and will be able to engage in online discussion with speakers and each other throughout the event.

Raveena Grover is a journalist at Information Age. She has worked in radio and is a former editor of the University of Technology's student publication, Vertigo. Her work has been published on 2SER, Hijacked City Hub Magazine and the Medical Observer. She is passionate about science, technology and the social environment.